The above-identified devices generally consist of a system formed by a “generator” containing the active part of the device, and one or more probes mechanically and electrically connected to the generator. More precisely, the generator consists of a case, containing a power supply and the various electronic circuits of the device, and a connector head equipped with one or more female cavities able to receive a connecting terminal located at the proximal end of a probe. The electrical and mechanical connection of the probe to the generator is achieved by insertion of the connecting terminal into the female cavity, which typically is carried out by a surgeon at the time of implantation of the device.
Generators typically have to be replaced after a couple of years because their batteries wear out. The intervention required at that time consists of opening the subcutaneous pocket containing the generator, disconnecting the connecting terminal from the probe (the probe remaining in place), inserting this terminal in the new generator, and then placing the new generator in the pocket, which will be closed again and sutured.
After several years of implantation, it is often difficult to separate the connecting terminal from the generator. Indeed, over the years, the infiltration and deposit of bodily fluids, dead cells, and fibrous tissues tends to create an adhesion of the connecting terminal to the interior surface of the connector head. To overcome this adhesion, the effort exerted on the sheath of the probe to extract the terminal can sometimes cause rupturing of the probe sheath, so that it becomes necessary either to implant a new probe or to cut the end part of the probe and connect a new connecting terminal to it. In either case, this operation is long and must be done carefully, so that, in addition to the increased risk for the patient, the duration and the cost of intervention are increased.